As vehicles become more sophisticated, it is necessary to convey more information to an operator of a vehicle. For example, vehicle systems such as traction control, occupant protection (e.g. air-bags), anti-lock braking, cruise control, and forward and reward illumination are often configured to perform self-diagnostic tests. If a self-diagnostic test detects a problem with a system, a graphical indicator or telltale on a vehicle instrument panel may be illuminated to inform the operator of the problem. As the number of graphical indictors increases, but the area of the instrument panel display surface remains the same, instrument panel assemblies that employ mechanical pointers may have situations where the pointer undesirable obstructs the view of the graphical indicator. Also, the number of mechanical pointers that an instrument panel can include is limited by the area of the display that is swept by the mechanical pointers. If the swept areas overlap or intersect, there is a risk of adjacent mechanical pointers colliding. Furthermore, some of the display area of the assembly may not be fully utilized because of circular shape of the area swept by the pointer.